Iwakura Mission
The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy was one of a number of diplomatic journeys around the world, initiated by the oligarchs of the Meiji era.
The mission was headed by Iwakura Tomomi in the role of extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador, assisted by four vice-ambassadors, three of which (Okubo Toshimichi, Kido Takayoshi, and Ito Hirobumi) were also ministers in the Japanese government. The mission also consisted of a number of administrators, scholars, and students, totalling about 50 people.
The purposes of the mission were twofold:
- To renegotiate the unequal treaties with U.S.A., Great Britain and other European countries that Japan had been forced into during the previous decades.
- To gather information on education, technology, culture, and military, social and economic structures from the countries visited in order to effect the modernization of Japan.
Of these two goals, the first one failed universally, prolonging the mission by over a year, and impressing the importance of the second goal in its members. The mission atetmpted to negociate with foreign governments beyond their authorities limited by the Japanese government with hope to make new trieaties under better conditions than before, it caused frictions between the mission and the Japanese government. This attempt failed and their prolonged stay became useless in this point. It made Okubo and Kido come to bad terms politically. On the other hand, members were impressed by modernization in America and Europe, it made them take initiatives to modernize Japan later. Several young students were left behind to complete educations in the foreign countries, including five young women who stayed in U.S.A. for studying, among them the then 7-year old Tsuda Umeko, who after returning to Japan founded the renowned school later called the Tsuda College. Nakae Chomin was among them who stayed in France as a staff of Ministry of Julistics and later became a journalist, thinker and translator.
On December 23, 1871 the mission sailed from Yokohama, bound for San Franscisco. From there it continued to Washington, D.C., then to Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. On the return journey several countries in Asia were also visited, although much more briefly. The mission returned home September 13, 1873, almost two years after setting out.
An official report compiled by the mission's official diarist Kume Kunitake was published in 1878, titled Tokumei Zenken Taishi Bei-O Kairan Jikki (特命全権大使米區回覧実記, available in English as A True Account of the Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary's Journey of Observation Through the United States of America and Europe, ISBN 4901617001)